Weather Rewind, May 22-28, 2011

It was a rather warm and summery week overall around town as the average temperature ended up 7.6 degrees above average, with Philadelphia getting its first 90 degree day of the year on Thursday and six consecutive days of 80 degree warmth here in the Delaware Valley.   We finally shook the precipitation pattern of last week, although it took until Wednesday to finally do so.   The average temperature, if one throws out the marine-layer influenced Sunday, was closer to nine degrees above average in the period from Monday through Saturday.

Last week's weather was also stormy in spots, especially in Central into Northeastern Pennsylvania as thunderstorm complexes developed and lifted northeast in advance of a frontal boundary that could not quite reach the region.   That same system was the storm system that dropped the powerful EF-5 tornado in Joplin a week ago today.

The localized warmth of May 2011 (temperatures now approaching three degrees above average for the month) is part of the warm pattern that has generally set up for the Northeast and Mid Atlantic, which are one of the only parts of the country to see above average warmth overall.   The coolest to average is in the Northern Plains and Northwest so far this month.